Elon Musk says he's raised the funding to buy Twitter

Elon Musk said he has raised $46.5 billion to purchase Twitter and is considering buying shares directly from investors to take control of the social media company.

In a securities filing on Thursday, the Tesla CEO said he raised $22.5 billion from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding to finance the bid, and committed to paying for the rest by selling equity. 

Musk last week proposed to buy Twitter for $54 a share, a significant premium on the company's stock price at the time of about $46. But a major Twitter shareholder, Saudi prince Al Waleed bin Talal, called the offer insufficient, and two days later Twitter's board adopted a so-called poison pill to block Musk's acquisition.

Twitter has not formally responded to his offer, Musk said in the filing. "Given the lack of response by Twitter, [Musk] is exploring whether to commence a tender offer," the filing said.

Musk began buying Twitter stock in February and this month became the company's largest shareholder. He aims to take the company private and has said he has no confidence in its current management.

"Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it," Musk said in his offer letter last week.

This is a developing story.